Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1790

c8.1790

Cirañjīvī said:—“Oh King, we became enemies of the owls because of our bad tongue. I shall tell you the story of an ass which met with its death because of its bad words. Once a washerman had a donkey to carry his load of clothes to and fro. The poor washerman did not have sufficient earnings to feed the donkey well and so he let it loose to go and eat of its own accord to appease its hunger. The donkey started going to the fields of other people and eating their grains. People started hurting the donkey and so the washerman did a clever thing. He covered the donkey with the hide of a tiger and let it loose. People mistook it for a tiger and did not dare to go near and hurt it. Then one day a farmer keeping watch over the fields at night felt suspicious of the fake tiger and covering himself with a blanket and with a bow and arrow in his hand stealthily approached the donkey. The poor donkey mistook the farmer for a she-donkey and brayed and approached him with amorous movements of its body. The farmer knew from its voice that it was a donkey and so removed his disguise and stood before the donkey. The be-fooled donkey got angry and abused the farmer using very vulgar language. The farmer got angry and killed him with an arrow.